A month after Lin-Manuel Miranda hits the big screen in Mary Poppins Returns and just days after he wraps up his return to the title role in Hamilton for a run in Puerto Rico, the multi-hyphenate will present, along with Hamilton director Thomas Kail, improv hip-hop troupe Freestyle Love Supreme to Off-Broadway audiences beginning January 30, 2019.
For 32 performances (the run will last through March 2) at Ars Nova's Greenwich House Theatre, Andrew Bancroft, Arthur Lewis, Bill Sherman, Chris Sullivan, Anthony Veneziale, and Utkarsh Ambudkar will create one-night-only shows; cell phones will be required to be checked at the door. Miranda produces and may be a guest performer.Conceived of by Kail, Miranda, and Anthony Veneziale, Freestyle Love Supreme begins previews January 30 before opening February 12 at the Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street. Tickets on sale now at freestylelovesupreme.com.
“When Lin and I were developing In the Heights, our friend Anthony kept grabbing Lin during breaks from rehearsal and freestyling. When I heard them, I knew they were on to something special,” said Kail in a statement. “We spent years crafting the show after that, and many of our favorite, and most hilarious memories, are from Freestyle Love Supreme shows. We've been waiting for just the right moment to bring the show back to New York. It's time!”
“Freestyle Love Supreme is the most exciting thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life. There is nothing like a live hip-hop show that is improvised from the first moment til the final curtain, and the skill set required to pull it off has introduced me to this deep bench of multi-hyphenate genius musician emcees,” added Miranda. “No two shows are the same, each show its own experience. I’m so thrilled to get the band back together; and even though I’m a co-producer this time around, I selfishly hope they let me jump onstage a couple of times over the course of the run. FLS for life.”
Each show will find the performers crafting an 80-minute musical based on suggestions from the audience. The name comes from the John Coltrane suite A Love Supreme.
